A Geographical and Historical Disquisition Touching Asia, Chapter 4

A Geographical and Historical Disquisition Touching Asia · Chapter 4

p. 21CHAP. IV. Of the Asian Diocese, and the Metropolitan cities thereof; with the Civill and Ecclesiasticall government setled therein.

A Diocese, in the language of the times whereof we speake, was aaforeign, Balsamon, in Concil. Chalcedon. can. 9.a circuit comprehending within it many provinces: and the Asian Diocese in that sense, sometimes taken more strictly, as it was distinguished from the Proconsular Asia and the provinces subject to the jurisdiction of the Proconsul thereof; and sometimes more largely, as containing those Proconsular provinces also under it. The former acception hath place in that Constitution of Theodosius the elder, whe…e bbCod. Theodos. lib. 16. tit. 1. de fide Cathol l. 3. Nec non etiam in Asià Proconsula…s atque Asianâ diocesi, Amphilochio &c. Ita enim ex MS. Malmesburiensi (quem mihi communicavit V. C. (Jo Seldenus) locus resti…uendus est.the Proconsular Asia and the Asian Diocese are both nominated together: and generally where ever the office of the Vicarius or ccImp. Const…ntin. ad Tertullianum P. V. Comitem dioeceseos Asianae. Ibid. lib. 2. tit. 26. finium regundor. l. 1. Impp. Arcad. et Honorius A A. Nebridio Comit… Asia. Cod. Justinian. lib. 11. In quib. caus. colon…. censiti. l. 2.Comes (for these two titles are used ddImp. Constantinu… ad Tiberianum Vica…ium Hispaniarum. in l. Si à sponso. C de donationib. ante nupt. et ad Tiberianum Comitem Hispaniarum. in l. Cùm servum. C de serv. fugitiv.to signifie the same dignitie) of Asia or the Asian Diocese (or eeVicarius Asiana regionis. Julian. Epitom. Novel. 8. sive Constitut. 15. §. 56▪ (…dit. Lugdun. an. 1567.) quam idem ibid. paulo pòst Asianam dioecesim appellat. Simili…er & in Constitut. 24. §. 98. Asianam regionem vocat; quae in Authentic. C…llat. 4. tit. 2. (de appellationib. §. Similique modo) nomine Asiana diocoeseos designatur.Region, as Julianus Antecessor rendreth it) is made mention of. The latter, when the Asian is rehearsed joinctly with other Dioceses of the Eastern Empire: as in L. Si quis post hanc. C. Ut nemo ad suum patrocin. and L. Provinciae Thraciar· C. de militari veste.

p. 22According to which acception, whole ffforeign. Theodore…. histor. Ecclesi… stic. lib. 5. cap. 28.Asia, as Theodoret calleth it, in the dayes of the younger Theodosius did consist of eleven Provinces. ggSubdisp…sitione vt… Spectabilis P…oconsulit …sia, Provincia infra scripta: Asia, Insula, H…llespontus. Notitia Provinciar. & dignitat. utriusque Impetu.three whereof appertained to the disposition of the Proconsul of Asia: the proper Proconsular which he governed by himselfe, the Consular Hellespont, and that of the Rhodes, and the other scattered Islands called Cyclades; which were first hhSub Vespasiano principe Insularum provine a facta est. Sext. R… fus, in Breviario.made a Province, and placed under a iiL. Iamdudum. C. Vbi …ausa.President, by the Emperour Vespasian kkSub despositione viri Spectabili… V…arit Dioeceseos Asiana, Provincia inf…ascr…pta. Pamphyli…, &c Notit. Provinciar·eight were under the Vicarius or Lieutenant of Asia: Lydia, Caria, Phrygia Pacatiana and Phrygia Salutaris, with those foure other which were superadded to that proper Asia of the ancient Romans, whereof we made mention in the beginning out of Strabo and Cicero; namely Pamphylia, Lycia, Lycaonia and Pisidia.

This distribution is to be seen in the Latin list of the Provinces and Dignities of both the Empires; called by llAlciat: Pa…erg. lib. 5 c. 13.Alciat the Breviary of Theodosius the younger. mmforeign. Jo. Malel. Ant…ochen. Chronic. M.S. lib, 14.by whom Lycia was divided from Lycaonia and made a Province by it selfe; Myra being appointed the Metropolis and place of the residence of the President thereof: as Iohannes Malela setteth downe in his Chronicle. Which report of his if we admit for authentique; we must withall say, that Theodoret, in the place even now alledged, had relation to the state of his owne time, when speaking of the care which Chrysostom had of Asia, he saith that it was governed by eleven Presidents. joyning the three Provinces which were under the Proconsul of Asia, with the other eight p. 23that were under the Vicarius of the Asian diocese; which otherwise, if Lycia and Lycaonia had been conjoyned, would have been but seven Provinces.

Indeed, nnAsianae X. Pamphylia, Hellespontus, Lydia, &c. Notit, utrius que Imperii.in the generall enumeration of the Provinces of the Easterne Empire, which we meet withall toward the beginning of the foresaid Theodosian Breviary, there are but ten Provinces numbred of the whole Asian diocese: the first and principall of them all, to wit Asia it selfe, by some errour (wherewith ooOnuphr. Commentar. Reipub. Ro…ā. lib. 3. pag. 424.Onuphrius also and ppCont. …. in Iustinian. Novell. 8. cap. 2.Contius was misledd) being omitted. Which was nothing amended by Isidorus Mercator, but increased rather; when he reckoneth up qqIn Asia XII, prima ipsa Asia. Vid. Salmasii Eucharistic. de Eccles. suburbicar. pag. 347.twelve Provinces in this Asia: the first and chiefe whereof he maketh to be Asia it selfe; rrAsiae Provincia XII. Asia ipsa, in qua est Ilium, id est, Troia, Lydia, Galatia, Ly…ia, Caria. hellespontu…. &c. Provinciar. Romanar. libell. ab Ant. Sconhovio & Andr. Schotto edit. ex Isidori Collect. Epistolar. Decretal, MS.in which (saith he) is Ilium, or Troy; the second Lydia, the third Galatia. Whereas Ilium was situated not in this, but in rhe province of Hellespont: and Galatia appertained to the Pontican, and not to the Asian Diocese. Whence, by the way, we may correct an errour that hath crept into the Greek edition of the subscriptions of the 6. Action of the Councell of Chalcedon: wherein, though Theosebius Bishop of Ilium had put to his name, yet Stephen the Metropolitan of the Ephesians, among those absent Bishops that were under his jurisdiction, doth nominate Rufinus Bishop, not Timi (as the Latin books have it) but Ilii.

ssGuid. Pancirol. Commentar. in Noti…, O…ient, Imper▪ cap. 210.Some do think, that the Emperour Iustinian did take away Hellespont from the government of the Proconsul of Asia, and joyned it with Pontus Polemoniacus. But that errour arose from the old Latin translation of the XX^th. Novell of Justinian; ttAu…hentic. Collat. 3. tit. 7. de administra. offic. in sacr. appellat…on.Hellespontus being therein put for Helenopontus, in the Pontican diocese: as appeareth not only by the Greek text and uuJulian. Constit. 25. §, 102.Iulians p. 24Latin Epitome thereof, but also by the Latin it selfe (acknowledging afterwards, that this mutation was made in Galatia and the Pontican, not the Asian diocese) and by the XXVIIIth. Novell most evidently. Though sure it is, that xxIustinian. Novel. 8. cap. 2. Nov. 20, c…p. 6. Nov. 24. cap. 5. & Nov. 27. init.he took from the Lievtenant or Vicarius the government of the Asian diocese, and confined him within the limits of Phrygia Pacatiana, whereof he constituted him Count or Comes.

By that which in the second chapter hath been delivered, it appeareth, that under the first Emperours there were many metropoliticall cities within one Province; and some chosen out of them wherein Courts of justice were erected, unto which the next adjoyning circuits might upon all occasions have recourse. Whereupon those contentions afterwards did arise betwixt the cities of the Proconsular Asia, touching each ones dignitie and precedency: for the composing whereof Aristides made that Oration of concord unto them, which is still extant. Wherein yet the common desire of all the Asians accorded in this; yyImpe…ator noster Antoni…u… Augustus ad desideria Asianorum resc…i…sit; Proconsuli …ecessitatem impositam, per mare Asiam appli…a…e foreign. primam attingere Ulpian inthat the Proconsul, at his first comming into the province, should passe into Asia by sea, and among the other Metropoles first arrive at Ephesus: as by the Rescript of the Emperour Antoninus (vouched by Ulpian, in his first book of the Proconsuls office) most manifestly appeareth.

But in the disposition of the Empire made by Constantine it was ordered, that in every Province there should be but one chiefe city held for the Metropolis: and that unto it,llObserva…e. D. de offic. Procons. all the Provincials should resort for the administration of publike justice. Whereupon Ephesus, being by the former Imperiall Constitution, grounded upon the joincte consent of the Asians p. 25themselves,zzforeign. Eus…b. lib. 4 hist. foreign. preferred before all the rest (as being the ordinary place of the convention of the Common Councell, and it self held to be aaforeign. Aristid. or…t de concord…â, …d civitat… Asi…t…c…s.the common treasury of Asia) was appointed to be the sole Metropolis of this new Proconsular Asia; and withall retained the preeminence which formerly it had above all the cities of the old. Whereof, we may see the testimonies, aswell of bbforeign. Ch…ysost. in argument. epist. ad Eph…s.Chrysostom and others of the ancient who wrote upon the Epistle of S Paul to the Ephesians; as of the Emperour ccforeign. Th…odos. …un. epist. a… Dioscor. in…er Acta Co…cil. E…h…sin. …. (inser…a Actioni 1. Concil. Chalcedon.)Theodosius, in the letters wherby he summoneth Dioscorus and other Bishops to appeare at the second Councell at Ephesus, assembled by him in the yeare of our Lord CCCCXLIX.

Whence he that wrote the book of the places mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (falsly fathered upon S. Hierom) saying that dd…p…cialiter ubi E…hesu… civitas est, Asia vocatur. Lib. de locis Act. Apostol. inter H…eronymi & Bedae o…era.where the city of Ephesus is, there is the Asia specially so called; may seem to have meant no other thing thereby, but that the province which had Ephesus for it's Metropolis, was that which had the name of Asia in a singular manner appropriated unto it. if therein he looked any further then to the ba…e words of the text; wherein it is said, that Paul eeAct. 19.10.Acts 19:10continuing at Ephesus by the space of two years, all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord. and that afterward ffAct. 20 16, 18.Acts 20:16Acts 20:18he determined to sayle by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: and thereupon sending for the Elde…s of the Church of Ephesus, he said unto them; Ye know from the fi…st day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have beene with you at all seasons. Out of all which it was no hard matter for him to gather at large, as ggErasm A… no…. in A…t. 16. & Rom. 16▪Rom 16Erasmus did after him; that Asia in the new Testament denoteth that part of Asia minor, in which Ephesus standeth.

p. 26It is here also further to be noted, that as in the state of the civill government, the jurisdiction of the annuall Presidents (by Aristides styled hhforeign. Arist…d. in orat. citat. quum anteà dixister. foreign. qu… …st ille sortitus annus; de quo St…ti…, suprà p…g. 13.Bishops) was extended unto all the cities that were contained within the limits of their severall provinces; and when but one Metropolis was appointed unto every province, wherein the Governour was to keep his ordinary residence, the Provinciall Presidents had from thence the appellation of foreign (or M…tropolitan Judges, as, at the end of the first Novell of Justinian, the **foreign, are vvith him Iudices p…ovinciarum, in N… vell 69.old Latin Interpreter rendr…th it:) so, in the Eastern empire especially, the Ecclesiasticall r…giment was herein conformed unto the civill; there being but one Metropolitan Bishop setled in every Province, unto whom the Bishops of all the rest of the cities were subordinated. By which meanes it came to passe. that of the seven Churches in Asia, spoken of in the book of the Revelation, Ephesus alone in the dayes of Constantine had the Metropoliticall dignitie left unto it. Then after the dayes of Valens the Emperour, the inland Lydia being separated from Asia, the Bishop of Sardis (which had been the iiforeign. S…rabo, lib. 13. pag. 625.ancient seat of the Lydian Kings) became the Metropolitan of that province: the sees of Philadelphia and **In the Latine edition of the subscriptio…s adjoyned unto the 9. Action of the Councell of Chalcedon, Thyatira is made subj…ct to Synnada. but the Greeke readeth the…e, not foreign, but foreign rather; a se… well known to be suffragan to Synnada, the Metropolis of Phrygia Salutatis.Thyatira being made subject to him; as Smyrna and Pergamus were to the Bishop of Ephesus.

There remained then of the seven, only Laodicea: which got the honour of being the Metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana; as we read in the Greek subscription of p. 27the first epistle unto Timothy: the §.§.although it be elde… then those middle times, wherein Phrygia Pacatiana, by a meta…hesis of the first syllabl…s, was called Capatiana: as may be seen in Hie…ocles his Civilla à … his Ecclesiastica…l list of the provinces. in Appendic. Geographiae sacrae. p…g. 27.39, 41.49.53.latenesse whereof is thence rightly collected by the learned kkVnde satis liquere potest, de sub…criptione primae epistolae ad Timotheum, recentio…em eam esse. Cujac. in exposit. Nove…l 145.Cujaicus. For as the distinction of Ph…ygia Pacatiana and Salutaris is no where to be found before the distribution of the provinces made by Constantine: so at that time also, when but one Metropolis was allotted unto every Province, it is a question, whether of those two **Lao…icea and Hierapolisa… they w…re neer one onether (and so conjoyned by …he Apostle, in Coloss 413.) so have th…y the first place also assigned unto them among the cities of Ph…ygia Pacatiana, by Hie…ocles in the civill list of th… Provinces: Append. Geogr. sacr. pag. 21.prime cities that were so nea…e together, Hierapolis, which without all controversie was acknowledged to belong unto Phrygia, was not rather chosen to be the mother city therein, then Laodicea, which by reason of the doubtfull situation thereof (as we have heard) was indifferently challenged to appertaine unto Phrygia, Caria and Lydia.

In the dayes of the succeeding Emperours indeed, llforeign. Concil. Chalcedon. Can. 12.who yielded so farr to the ambition of some Bishops, that they were content there should be two Metropolitans in one Province, both these cities were accounted for the Metropoles of Phrygia Pacatiana which is the cause, why in the fourth generall Councell, assembled at Chalcedon, aswell mmSubscript. Concil. Ch…lced. Act. 6. & 16.Acts 6Nunechius Bishop of the Metropolis of Laodicea, as Stephen Bishop of the Metropolis of Hierapolis, do subscribe for themselvs and the absent Bishops which were under them. as also in the fifth general Councell held at Constantinople, there is mention made at the same time of nnConcil. V. Collat. 8.Iohn Bishop of the Metropolis of the Laodiceans, and Auxanon Bishop of the Metropolis of the Hierapolitans: & in the sixth, of Tiberius Bishop of the Laodiceans and Sisinnius of the Hierapolitans, either of them p. 28giving unto his seat the title ooforeign. Concil. VI. Constantinop. Act, 18.of the Metropolis of the Pacatian Phrygians.

And although by a Canon of the said Councell of Chalcedon it was provided, that any Bishop which afterward ppforeign. …oncil. Chalced. c…n. 12.would attempt to make such divisions to the derogation of the rights of his owne Metropolitan, should be deprived of his dignitie; and that qqforeign &c. foreign, Ibid.the new Metropoles formerly constituted by the Imperiall Charters should so content themselves with this honour, that the proper rights should still be preserved unto that which was the Metropolis indeed: yet we see for all this, that rrNotit. Graec. in appendic. Geograph. s…cr. pag. 16. & 18. it…m 48. & 52. Jur. Graeco. Roman. tom. 1. pag. 94. & 98.in the lists of the Bishopricks of the East made in the succeeding times, there are still distinct suffragans reckoned under these two Metropolitans of Laodicea and Hierapolis; and that diverse other private Bishops were not hereby restrained from aspiring unto a Metropoliticall dignitie. among whom (to speak onelyonly of those who were within the compasse of the Lydian Asia) was the Bishop of Smyrna; who found the meanes to be made first foreign or independent, and then ttJur. G…aeco· Roman. tom. 1. pag. 88. & 245.a Metropolitan with uuIbid· pag. 100.seven suffragans depending upon him. xxGeorg. Co. din. Curep…lat. de Offic. Constantinop. pag. 221, &. 237. edit. Fr. Junii.the Bishop of Pergamus; who was exempted likewise from his subordination to Ephesus, and made a Metropolitan by himself. and the Bishop of Philadelphia: ssNotit. Graec. in Append. Geograph. sacr. p…g. 8. & 40yyIbid. pag. 219. & 231. Vid. S…lmas…i Eucharistic. de Eccles. suburbicar. pag. 383.who by Andronicus Palaeologus the elder was substituted into the place of the Bishop of Sardis, and made Metropolitan of all Lydia. So as of the Bishops of the seven Churches mentioned in the book of the Reuelation, he of Thyatira only excepted, all at the last became Metropolitans, as they were at the first.

p. 29But among all these, the See of Ephesus had evermore the preeminence. And as it was the mother city of the Proconsular Asia: so was that Asia likewise the prime Province of all the Asian Diocese; and had in such esteem, that the Proconsul thereof was exempted from the jurisdiction of the Praefectus Praetorio Orientis, (as before we have heard out of Eunapius) unto which the Vicarius or Lieutenant of the Asian Diocese was subject. Conformably whereunto in the Ecclesiasticall government, the Bishop of Ephesus was not only held to be the Metropolitan of the Proconsular Asia, but also the Primate of all the provinces that were contained within the compasse of the whole Asian Diocese. VponUpon which ground it was, that among those Bishops which Palladius (in the life of Chrysostom) mentioneth to have beene ordained by Antoninus Bishop of Ephesus; zzforeign. Sozomen. hist. lib. 8. cap. 6.some were of Lycia and Phrygia, as well as others of Asia: the ordination of these latter being challenged by vertue of his Metropoliticall, of the others by his Patriarchicall jurisdiction.

In the Arabick Acts of the Councell of Nice (which that worthy Knight S^r. Thomas Roe, among other rare monuments, brought with him from the East and bestowed upon the famous library of the University of Oxford) it is affirmed that aaCa. 35. &. 32. quorum indicium debeo D. Edovardo Pocolcio linguae Arabicae in Academiâ Oxoniensi professori doctissimo.the Patriarchship of Ephesus was translated unto the Bishop of Constantinople, and that he was then made the second in order, and the Patriarch of Alexandria the third. and a Constitution is therein recited, that the Patriarchall see should be translated from Ephesus to the Imperiall city; that so honour might be done both to the Empire and Priesthood together: and, to the end the other Bishop might be honoured (and not lightly set by, because of the transferring of the Patriarchall chaire p. 30from him) that he should enjoy the eminent title of Catholicus. for proofe whereof, the testimony of one Dionysius is there alledged.

But neither the authority of this obscure Dionysius, nor of the latter Arabians following him, is of sufficient weight to gaine credit to this relation: especially seeing it is well known, that the title of Catholicus, taken in this sense, bbCathol…ci nomen infirmâ imperti atate natum. Salmas. Eucharistic. de Eccles. suburbicar: cap. 3. pag. 511.is of a very late originall, and (for ought we can find) at no time attributed unto the Bishop of Ephesus; and that the Bishop of Constantinople had the second place among the Patriarchs first assigned unto him, not in the Councell of Nice, but ccConcil▪ Constantinopol. I. …a…. 3.in the second generall Councell held at Constantinople in the yeare CCCLXXXI. After which advancement, the first Bishop of that see we read of, that extended his jurisdiction beyond the sea unto ddTheodoret. lib. 5. histor. cap. 28.the Pontican and Asian dioceses, was John Chrysostome, eePallad. & Georg. Alexandrin. in Vità Chrysostomi. Sozomen. lib. 8. histor. cap. 6.who passing over unto Ephesus, and holding there the foresaid Synod of the LXX. Asian Bishops, placed Heraclides in the Bishoprick of Ephesus, then vacant by the death of Antoninus; and deposing XIII. Bishops, who were charged to have been simoniacally ordained by him, placed others in their roome.

And, although within foure yeares after, aswell Heraclides as the other thirteen Bishops of Chrysostoms ordination were removed againe, and the former Bishops restored to their places: yet it appeareth by the acknowledgement of the Pontican and Asian Bishops in the XVI^th. Action of the Councell of Chalcedon, that his successors continued their claime, and challenged still a right at leastwise in the ordination of the Metropolitans of both those Dioceses. Which power of ordaining Metropolitans, not only in the Thracian p. 31but also in the Pontican and Asian diocese, being thereupon confirmed unto the Bishops of Constantinople by a ffConcil. Chalcedon. Act. 16. & Canon. 28.Acts 16speciall act of that Councell (beside ggIbid. Can 9. & 17.a liberty given to all clerkes that had any suit with their Metropolitan, to prosecute the same either before the Primate of the Diocese or the Patriarch of Constantinople, at their owne election) gave occasion unto Euagrius to write, that hhforeign. Euagr. histor. lib, 3. cap. 6.the Councell of Chalcedon took away the Patriarchicall right from the Church of the Ephesians; and that by Timothy of Alexandria (the deadly enemy of that Councell) it was restored thereunto againe.

After which time we see, that the Bishop of Ephesus, as Metropolitan of the Asian province, subscribeth thus unto the Constantinopolitan Synod held under Menas. iiforeign. Concil. CP. sub Menâ; Act. 5.Acts 5I Hypatius, by the mercy of God Bishop of the Metropolis of the Ephesians of the Asian province, have defined and subscribed. and as Patriarch of the Asian diocese, to the letters sent by the sixth Councell of Constantinople, unto Pope Agatho, thus. kkforeign. Synod. VI. Constantinop. Act. 18.Acts 18I Theodorus by the merciemercy of God Bishop of the Metropolis of the Ephesians, and Primate of the Asian Diocese, both for my self, and the Synod that is under me, have subscribed.

For although in the times of the latter Emperours also, he still retained the title of Primate or llforeign. In ordine thronor. Metropolitan. ad calcem Codini. de officiis Constantinopol, Vid. Salmasii Eucharistic, de Eccles. Suburbicar. cap. 2. pag. 385, 408, 409.Exarch of all Asia; yet all Asia did not import therein the whole Asian Diocese, but the Asian Province only: the exarchate of the Diocese, having been wholly engrossed into the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Which p. 32is the cause, why Balsamon noteth, that mmforeign. Theod. Balsam. in Concil. Chalcedon. can. 9.the priviledge heretofore granted unto Exarches by the Councell of Chalcedon, was in his dayes of no force at all. For although some of the Metropolitans (saith he) are named Exarches; yet have they none of the other Metropolitans within the Dioceses any wayes subject unto them. and nnforeign. Subscript. Concil. Constantinopol. sub. Gregorio Patriarchâ habit. Vide Sirmondi Propemptic. lib. 2. cap. 5. pag. 214. & 218.Iohn, in a late Synod held after the time of the Councell of Florence, subscribeth himselfe Bishop of the Metropolis of the Ephesians, and Exarch (or Primate, not of the Diocese, but) of the Province of the Asians.

And of the Asian Diocese, with the Civill and Ecclesiasticall government thereof, thus much in briefe may suffice.

FINIS.

TO The Right Honourable, the House of PEERES, now assembled in PARLIAMENT. The Humble Petition of JAMES Archbishop of ARMAGH.

Humbly sheweth,

THat whereas your Lordships were pleased to employ your Petitioner in preaching before you on the Fast-day, the 22. of December last: (which service, according to his mean ability, he was carefull to performe:) so it is, that one Iohn Nicholson, having got into his hands a collection of some rude and incoherent Notes of that Sermon, took the boldnesse to publish the same (under the Title of Vox Hiberniae) as a true Relation of that which was uttered before your Lordships that day. Which being in many places void of common sense, & in the whole every way unanswerable unto what vvas fit to have been delivered before so Honourable and judicious an Audience,

His humble request is, That your Lordships would be pleased, to call in that suppositions Pamphlet, &c.

Die Veneris, 11. Februarii, 1641.

Ordered by the Lords in Parliament, That a Book concerning the L. Arch-bishop of Armagh, being published and printed by Iohn Nicholson, shall be called in and suppressed.

JO. BROWNE. Cleric. Parliam. To the Wardens and Company of the Stationers of London.

AN Order of the Commons House of Parliament, FOR The suppressing of an other Pamphlet, falsly fathered upon the said Archbishop of Armagh. Die Martis, 9. Febr. 1640.

WHereas complaint hath been made unto us by Iames Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, that a certain Pamphlet hath beene lately most injuriously fathered upon him, and spread abroad under the false title of The Bishop of Armagh's direction to the house of Parliament, concerning the Liturgie and Episcopall Government: It is this day ordered in the Commons House of Parliament, that the Master and Companie of Stationers, and all others whom it may concerne, shall take such course for the suppressing of the said Book, that they shall not suffer it to be put in print, or if it be already printed, not permit the same to be divulged. And if any man shall presume to print or publish the Book above-mentioned; That he, or they, shall be then lyable to the Censure of the said House.

H. Elsynge Cler. Domûs Comm.

End of the text · James Ussher, A Geographical and Historical Disquisition Touching Asia (1643)